Outside the Beltway

In Front of Our Noses: Partyin’ Patel

Official business, dontcha know.

Steven L. Taylor · Monday, February 23, 2026 · 5 comments

MS Now reports: Kash Patel heads to Milan for the Olympics — on the FBI jet.

FBI Director Kash Patel flew today on the FBI’s Gulfstream jet bound for a trip to the winter Olympics in Italy to watch one of his favorite sports: men’s ice hockey, according to three people familiar with his plans.

Patel, an avid hockey player and fan, will be at the Olympic festivities and plans to attend the bronze medal competition in men’s ice hockey on Saturday and the competition for the gold medal on Sunday, the people said.

An FBI official confirmed Patel’s travel plans, but said he has several official government purposes for attending, including a meeting with an ambassador, briefings on Olympics security and other government meetings.  

Patel’s travel to Italy was reported Thursday afternoon by CBS.

Government accounts estimate it costs U.S. taxpayers at least $5,000 per flight hour for the FBI Gulfstream to fly, meaning Patel’s trip to Milan is likely to cost as much as $75,000. 

And then he ended up in the locker room.

Oh, BTW,

The last known instance of an FBI director traveling to an Olympics setting was in November 2003, when then-Director Robert Mueller went to Greece for a two-day visit. But Mueller made his trip eight months before the Olympic events to review security preparations for the upcoming Summer Olympics there

Quite frankly, this just looks to me like petty corruption and abuse of office by Patel because he can. These people are not public servants, they are grifters.

But, you know, this is the administration truly concerned with fraud and waste!